Writer Pearl S Buck, known also by her Chinese name, Sai Zhenzju, was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia. As an infant she went with her parents to China where they continued their missionary work. She.spent most of her time until 1934 in China.Through her Chinese tutors she became learned in Chinese classical literature, culture and folk lore.

Her novel TheGood Earth, depicting peasant live in China, was the best- selling fiction book in the U.S. in 1931 and 1932, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and later won the Dean Howells Medal for Distinguished Fiction in 1936. In 1938, Buck was awarded the NobelPrize in Literature.